Wing Stiffeners in Fuel Tank Bay

[mswain]

I am having a hard time figuring out how to bend the wing skin stiffeners that go inside the main fuel tank bay. The plans call for a total height of 5/16. The leg of the stiffener that runs at a 45 degree angle is roughly .3". Every brake I have access to has a leaf thickness of at least .6". I can do the inside bends fine, but I get interference from the brake when trying to finish off the 2 outside bends.

The stiffeners are shaped like __/-----\__

​What am I missing?

[dedgemon]

you can make the angles less than 45 deg. The total height is the important part, if the stiffener is too thick it causes problems making the tank fit. Ask me how I know 😀

[mswain]

That's where I am at, not much wiggle room in height with the tank in there. Thanks for the tip. Guess I will lessen the angle to get longer legs but maintain the 5/16 overall height.

[haribole]

Hello mswain

Were you able to get these made? I am struggling with the same...

[mswain]

Haribole,

Not yet. Another local builder supposedly has a friend with a very narrow leafed brake.....when I get time I am going to check it out. Worst case i will just flatten out the angle as mentioned above.....so they will be wider than plans but same height.

[Jsabol]

What I did was brake the part as close as I could, legs ended up not sitting flat. Then I ran each side through offset rollers on my bead roller. Then used propane torch to form to wing form. Really came out nice